"Tyler..." My voice trailed off. I didn't know what to say or even think. He didn't respond, he just twisted the key in the ignition and quickly pulled out of the spot. The lack of questions made me certain that he had read a similar message on his phone. While he drove, a little too fast for the roads, I found Talon's name in my phone and pressed dial.
"Are you calling Talon?" He asked tensely, his eyes still focused on the road.
"Yeah," I said listening impatiently as the line continued to ring in my ear. "She's not answering."
I waited a few more rings until the Talons recorded voice picked up and told me to leave a message, or better yet, just text. Sighing a hung up the phone without bothering to leave a message. Pulling my messages back up, I quickly typed out a text instead.
What's going on? R U ok?
I pressed send, bouncing my leg anxiously waiting for a reply.
"Here," Tyler said passing me his phone. "Try Bran. Whatever's going on, I think he knows."
"Okay, I'll try him now," I said taking Tyler's phone. I wasn't sure why he thought Brandon would know about whatever Talon and my dad and Julia were freaking over until I saw that Tyler had missed several calls from Brandon this evening as well. I pressed down on Brandon's name and waited for the phone to connect.
"What the fuck, Ty? I've been calling for an hour," Brandon said into the phone, picking up after only one ring. I let out a small sigh of relief that not only he had answered, but based on his state, he knew and could update us on what was happening.
"It's Evie," I said, ignoring the harsh greeting. "Ty is driving, so..."
"Right," he said. "Yeah, okay. Where are you guys?"
"We're on our way back," I said though I wasn't entirely sure where we were going."Is Talon okay?"
Brandon sighed into the phone instead of answering.
"Brandon," I snapped.
"She's, yeah... Tal is fine," he said finally.
"Oh thank God," I said, relieved. "She's safe?"
"Yeah," he agreed. "Talon is safe."
There was something off about his voice though. I didn't know what it was but it was all wrong. He was telling me she was okay, she was safe but he didn't sound nearly as relieved as he should have.
"What's going on?" I pressed, knowing there was more.
"Evie," he said in a way that made the pit in my stomach triple in size. "I need to talk to Tyler. Put him on the phone."
I looked at Tyler who was driving, his hands tight around the steering wheel, his whole body stiff. It bothered me that he didn't want to tell me. It made it seem like something was so wrong he didn't think I could handle it.
"Just tell me."
"Evie," he said again.
"It's Garret right?" I said, voicing what Tyler and I both assumed. Tyler glanced from the road to me, waiting for confirmation.
"Pass Tyler the phone."
I heaved a frustrated sigh and held out the phone for Tyler. "He needs to speak to you," I said not bothering to hide my irritation. Tyler took his phone from my hand and held it to his ear.
"Tal is good? She's safe?" he asked, needing to confirm for himself that his sister was okay. As he listened to whatever Brandon said next, his body visibly relaxed. "What's happening?" He asked, glancing at me from the corner of his eye.
I turned my attention back to my own phone. Talon hadn't responded which was a little unsettling, but Brandon seemed certain that she was okay, so I tried not to let it bother me. I looked through my missed calls. One of the voicemails I had was from Talon, the other was from my father. I bit down on the inside of my cheeks, not sure if I wanted to listen. My dad wasn't the kind to leave me voicemails. Or text messages. He called and usually he only called once and he always expected a prompt call back. The fact that I missed several called from him and had a voicemail was out of character. It was not okay. I couldn't bring myself to listen to the message and instead pressed on his name to call him.
"I'm trying to call my dad," I said loud enough for Tyler to hear over his own conversation as the phone began to ring in my ear.
"Evie," Tyler yelled suddenly and I jumped, nearly dropping my phone. "Hang up the phone."
I twisted in my seat, confused as I waited for some additional explanation. Tyler wasn't quick enough to get out the words, not that they would have made a difference. Before he could say anything, the rings came to an abrupt stop.
"Evie, baby."
No.
The sound of his voice seemed to echo in my mind. I couldn't hide from it or escape it.
No. No. No.
I was frozen.
I knew it had to be this, had to be him. But it hadn't crossed my mind that this would happen. He was answering my dad's phone.
A wave of nausea rolled over me.
Two weeks. We had waited for weeks for him to make a move. He'd haunted us like a god damned boogie man, lurking in the shadows of our minds for two weeks. The timing was far too perfect for this to be a coincidence, he had to have planned it somehow. I didn't know how he could have known my plans, but he must have. He wanted to hurt me. It had been foolish to assume that it would be as simple as attacking my dad's financial security and my reputation. He was a betting man, and I knew he had figured the odds were that wouldn't hurt me in the way he really wanted to. Had I underestimated him? Maybe, I hoped, I was giving him too much credit now.
"Where's my dad?" I demanded through gritted teeth.
Garret chuckled into the phone.
"Give me a second," I heard Tyler say to Brandon but it barely registered.
"Since when do you give a shit about your dad?" Garret asked, his interest piqued.
"Since you have his phone," I answered. Truth was I'd always cared, and he knew that. It was the only way he was able to keep me under his thumb for so long. I wasn't so worried about what he had on me. I didn't care too much about all the money. But I wouldn't let him ruin my dad. Garret knew that, he always knew that.
Garret laughed again.
"We're just hanging out, baby, relax."
"Evie, give me the phone," Tyler said. I looked at him and shook my head. This was about me and Garret. Tyler couldn't talk to him. He couldn't make this better and I needed to know what Garret's end game was.
"Oh," Garret said into the phone like he was hurt. "Here I am, waiting at your house for you and you're with another guy?"
"He's none of your business," I spat. "What do you want?"
"Well, baby, someone let the police know about a couple of my spots," he said and I frowned, confused. I had told him I knew all of his secrets, what businesses and who he worked with. Where he got his supply from. But I never knew any of it. I had tried to figure it, but he was careful to keep that sort of information from me. All I knew what that he was good at hiding his money and kept nothing at his apartment. Probably because he knew what I would do with the information if I had it.
"So my income is sort of fucked because of you," he said dropping the friendly pretense. "And some of my associates had jumped ship too."
"Maybe it was your charming personality that had them leaving," I said unable to stop myself from making the snide comment.
"Listen to me carefully, Evie," Garret said into the phone, his voice dangerously low. "Because two things are going to happen. First, your going to tell me where the safe is and how to get into it. I'm going to take anything worth anything and then, I'm going to make sure you have something to remember me by."
"No your not," I said with a confidence that I didn't feel. "I've already called the police, Garret."
"No you haven't," he said with the same confidence. "You think I've been around doing what I do, without a couple police scanners? I'd know if they were coming."
I opened my mouth to tell Tyler to call the police now but before any words came out, Garret spoke again.
"It would be foolish of you to call them now."
"Why is that?" My voice was shaking, I couldn't help it.
Tyler's hand settled on my leg, his thumb rubbing back and forth in attempt to offer comfort. I glanced over at him, not hiding the concern on my face and realized that we weren't moving. I hadn't even noticed that he pulled over.
"Why did you stop?" I mouthed silently.
"You think I don't have an out, here? You think I didn't put a little bit of thought into this, Evie?" Garret asked. "You call the police, I'll kill everyone."
"You're lying," I said.
Garret didn't miss a beat. "You wanna take that chance?" He laughed. "Where's the fucking safe, Evie?"
He'd won. I hadn't expected this. I knew him the best, I knew what he was capable of but I hadn't expected this. If I hadn't, no one else could have. Garret wasn't usually so open to getting his hands dirty. He liked to blackmail and psychologically and emotionally fuck people over. With the exception of me, I'd never seen him phsycially violent with others. When one of his guys stepped out of line, he made sure they paid for it, but he didn't kill them. He didn't beat them. He just destroyed them. He found ways to make sure they lost whatever job they had and were left alone, abandoned.
None of that mattered now, because he'd surprised me.
I lost.
I opened my mouth and explained to him where the safe was located. On the top floor, second bedroom on right. It was guest room that I didn't think had ever been used. No one would suspect something so important to be in a room we let guests stay in, my father told me once when I asked why he would keep it there. There was ornate mirror above the dresser in that room. It was an antique, probably worth an obscene amount of money. When I explained it was behind the mirror, I cringed when I heard the crashing sound as it was pulled off the wall without care.
Tyler had been trying to get my attention, but I was too focused. Finally, he shoved his phone in front of my face. I blinked at the bright light, pulling back as my eyes adjusted to the words typed out on the screen.
Do not give him the code without speaking to your father.
I met Tyler's eyes, glad he had forced me to pay attention to him.
"I need to speak to my dad, Garret," I said, interrupting his celebration over seeing the wall safe.
"Uh-uh," he was quick to reply. "We're not playing by your rules Evie."
"I'm not helping you get in until I speak to him."
Garret was quiet for a long minute.
"You don't trust me?" he asked finally.
"No."
"You think I killed him already?" Garret laughed as he asked the question and suddenly I was concerned that he had. I hadn't thought of it, but when I glanced to Tyler, I knew that's what had been on his mind. "But then who would I use as leverage? Your young, pretty step-mom?" My stomach dropped. "Or maybe your little friend. She's around somewhere."
"You're bluffing."
"Am I?" he asked. "I'm gonna hang up now. Give you a few minutes to really think about how much you're willing to risk here. Call me back soon, baby."
He hung up without waiting for me to say anything more.
"He killed him?" I asked Tyler.
"I-I don't know, Evie."
"But..." I said not feeling anything. "You think he did."
Tyler's hand moved from my leg up to my cheek. His eyes were large, sad. "Talon and Julia are in the house," he said. "They're safe. Bran said they're in a safe room." He chuckled. "I didn't know you had one."
"The entry for it's hidden, it's in the master bedroom..." I said. "They're safe there. He won't find them."
"I know," Tyler agreed.
"Why do you think he's dead?" I asked. "What did Brandon tell you?"
"After what happened with you, Bran hasn't hung around Garret, but, I don't know. He's still talking to some of the guys, I guess. One of them was talking to him earlier tonight, asking if he wanted in on a big job. One of their guys bailed, didn't have the stomach for it or something. He said it was something that would pay his bills for months." Tyler paused, shaking his head like he didn't want to tell me the next part. "Bran is a good kid."
"I know that," I said.
"He asked for more details, he was interested. Most the shit he does is to take care of his younger siblings and the get was too good to pass up. So Mikey, whoever the hell that is, filled him in. I don't know if he flat out said it or if Bran just figured it out, but he knew it was your house. He knew what we were doing tonight and he knew Talon was there, so he called her and warned her. They didn't have as much lead time as they thought, so your dad got them to the safe room."
"Tyler," I said, my voice hoarse as the frog in my throat grew. When I realized what Tyler thought I'd been emotionless, unable to process the idea. But he wasn't telling me why he thought what he did. He was avoiding it.
"You dad tried to take them on," Tyler explained. "Talon said they watched on the monitors. He had a gun, I think but he wasn't expecting more than a couple guys. They beat him. Bran said Talon and Julia were really shook up when they spoke. It was brutal. When he talked to them, your dad was just laying there. He hadn't moved at all."
"Oh...oh."
"I think it got out of hand," Tyler said quietly. "Garret started yelling and they tore the place apart looking for Talon and Julia."
"How long had he been out?"
"Twenty minutes or so, I think. Bran said it was hard to get a clear idea."
"How long can you pass out for and still live?"
He opened his mouth and then closed it, shaking his head. Tyler ran his fingers through my hair while he tried to come up with an answer. "I don't know what they did to him, Evie."
Of course. We didn't know if he had passed out from the pain, or if he couldn't breath. He might have had a horrible head injury that took him out. There was no way of knowing and I couldn't put that kind of pressure on Tyler. Tears filled my eyes.
"I'm sorry," I whispered.
"Don't apologize."
I pulled in a shaky breath. "It's my fault. I'm such an idiot."
"You couldn't have known."
But I felt like I should have.
"I need to know." I took a breath. "If he's alive and I call the police, he'll kill him. But if he's dead and Tal and Julia are safe..."
Tyler nodded in understanding. "Try Julia," he said. "I'll call Tal."
Julia's phone went straight to voicemail, twice. Her phone was either turned off or dead. It didn't seem like Tyler was having any more luck than I was. After a few minutes and several more attempts, we sat silent in the car, looking at each other. The truth settled over me. I was running out of time to make a decision.
"I'm not going to know, am I?"
"I don't think so."
"Will you do it?" I asked.
Tyler silently agreed and dialed the three numbers into his phone before holding it up to his ear. I listened in a daze as reported who he was and what was happening at my house. When he hung up the phone, I didn't know if that call had just signed the death warrant for my father, or if he was already gone. Or maybe the whole thing was a bluff.
"Come here," Tyler said quietly. He reached over and released the seat belt I hadn't undone. It didn't take much persuading for me to crawl into his lap and let him hold me.
"What now?"
"We go back to your house. The police will be waiting there, they'll probably want a statement."
"He'll be gone," I said.
Garret had been planning this for at least the last two weeks. Maybe longer. Probably longer. He had a plan, he had an escape route.